System and apparatus for holding freight containers of vehicles and the like

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for locating and holding freight containers to the flat deck of a vehicle, such as a railway car, truck, trailer and the like. The containers may be of various lengths and may be intermixed on the deck of the vehicle and are located on the deck of the vehicle by interengaging dome and socket connections and latch bolts locking the domes to the sockets. The latch bolts are released by the lifting devices of a conventional lift for lifting and placing containers on vehicle decks. In one form of the invention, upward movement of the lifting device releases the latch bolts. In another form of the invention, inward movement of the lifting devices to engage under the container, serves to release the latch bolts and accommodate the container to be lifted above the deck of the vehicle.

Uit ed States Patent Bridge 51 Apr. 4, 1972 [54] SYSTEM AND APPARATUSFOR HOLDING FREIGHT CONTAINERS OF VEHICLES AND THE LIKE A [72] Inventor:John Bridge, 407 South Dearborn Street,

Chicago, 111, 60605 [22] Filed: Nov. 10, 1969 21 Appl. No.: 875,477

[52] US. Cl. ..2l4/38 CA, 105/366 B, 105/366 C 3,486,468 12/1969Bezlajetal. ..105/376 [5 7] ABSTRACT Apparatus for locating and holdingfreight containers to the flat deck of a vehicle, such as a railway car,truck, trailer and the like. The containers may be of various lengthsand may be intermixed on the deck of the vehicle and are located on thedeck of the vehicle by interengaging dome and socket connections andlatch bolts locking the domes to the sockets. The latch bolts arereleased by the lifting devices of a conventional lift for lifting andplacing containers on vehicle decks. 1n one form of the invention,upward movement of the lifting device releases the latch bolts. Inanother form of the invention, inward movement of the lifting devices toengage under the container, serves to release the latch bolts andaccommodate the container to be lifted above the deck of the vehicle.

5 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PAT NTEUAPR 4 I972 SHEET 1 [IF 5PATEHTEDAPR 4M2 3,653,521

sum 2 [IF 5 PATENTEDAPR 4 I972 SHEET 6 [IF 5 SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THEINVENTION The present invention is to provide a simple form of containerlocking and registering device for locking a container to the deck of avehicle in the form of a series of equally spaced projecting andcentering devices registering with sockets on the container, in whichthe devices are released by the lift forks of lifting devices forlifting the container onto and from the deck of a vehicle.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide an improvedsystem and apparatus for locating and locking freight containers tovehicle decks arranged with a view toward accommodating the release oftheapparatus by the lift forks of a lifting device, lifting theapparatus above a vehicle deck and holding the apparatus in a releasedposition as long as the lifting apparatus is in position to lift orlower the container.

A further object of the invention is to provide the novel system andapparatus for retaining containers to vehicle decks, in which locatingand locking devices are spaced along the vehicle deck in such a mannerthat various lengths of containers may be loaded on a vehicle deckwithout altering the vehicle, in which the locating and locking devicesare released by the lifting devices, lifting and lowering thecontainers.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a dome and socketlocating and locking system for locking containers to vehicle decks inwhich the domes are positively locked to the sockets by releasable latchbolts and the latch bolts are released by engagement of the operatingmechanism therefor with lifting devices for lifting and lowering thecontainers onto the deck of the vehicle.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readilyapparent from the following description of certain preferred embodimentsthereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, althoughvariations and modifications may be effected without departing from thespirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic top plan view of arailway car adapted to transport containers of varying lengths inaccordance with the principles of the present invention, and showing twocontainers in broken lines and supported on the deck of the car.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view in side elevation of the railway car shownin FIG. 1 showing the containers in solid.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic perspective view illustrating a containerlifting device in the process of lifting a container, constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic fragmentary side elevational view of thecontainer and a part of the railway car shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 withcertain parts shown in longitudinal section in order to illustrate thelocating and locking means of the present invention and the releasemeans therefor, and showing the container-in a locked position on thedeck of a railway car.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view somewhat similar to FIG. 4, but showingthe container in the process of being lowered onto the deck of a railwaycar, with the locating and latching devices in released positions.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary plan diagrammatic view of a railway car, showinga series of containers supported on the deck of the car with certain ofthe containers broken away.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic view in side elevation of the railway car shownin FIG. 6 with containers supported on the deck of the car in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic partial fragmentary longitudinal sectional viewtaken along the bottom of the container illustrating the principles oflocating and locking the container to the deck of a railway car.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic partial fragmentary sectional view takensubstantially along line IX-IX of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is adiagrammatic view somewhat similar to FIG. 9 but showing thelatching device in released position.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF INVENTION In FIGS. 1 to 6 of thedrawings, I have shown a series of freight containers 10 of a typeadapted to be transported by railway flat cars, trailers, trucks, shipsand the like, and have shown in FIG. 3 a side lift tong truck 11 backedup along one side of a container 10 in lifting engagement with thecontainer, to lift the container and lower it onto a railway car,trailer,

flatbed trailer, or other freight transporting vehicle.

The container 10 is of a generally rectangular box-like form and may beof various selected lengths and of widths substantially equal to thewidth of a railway car or trailer. Said container has a closed top,parallel side walls 12, end walls 13 connecting the side walls togetherand a bottom wall 15. The bottom, side and end walls of the containerare usually made from a relatively thin metal skin secured to andreinforced by a supporting and reinforcing frame structure includingbottom side beams 16, end beams 17 connecting said side beams togetherand corner posts 18 extending upwardly of the side and end beams alongthe corners of the container to the tops of the side and end walls 12and 13. One or both of the end walls 13 may have doors therein (notshown) extending for substantially the width of the container toaccommodate the container to be loaded from an end thereof.

A railway car 19 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 as having a center sill 20extending for the length of the car, flat platforms 21 on a level withthe top of the sill, at opposite ends of said sill, and transverselocating and support beams 23 spaced along said sill and extending inopposite directions from said sill and forming supports for upwardlyprojecting locating and locking members 25. The locating and lockingmembers 25 are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 as being in the form of domeshaving spherical heads, but may have conical, frusto-conical or variousother desired forms of heads, which will locate the container 10 on therailway car. The locating and locking members 25 fit within downwardlyopening sockets 26 opening in the bottoms of hollow beams 27. The hollowbeams 27 extend along the bottom of the container along opposite sidesthereof and afford a support for the container on the railway car. Thetransverse platforms 23 are in the form of beams braced to oppositesides of the center sill 20 as by gussets 29 extending from said centersill beneath said platforms and welded or otherwise secured thereto.

The side lift truck 11 may be of any conventional form and isillustratively shown as including depending lift tongs 30 extendingdownwardly along opposite sides of the container. The lift tongs 30 havelift forks 31 extending inwardly of the container for engagement alongthe bottoms of the beams 27. Said lift forks are connected together by alift bar 32 having an upwardly extending uniformly curved abutment 33intermediate its ends, for engagement with a downwardly facing recess orsocket 35 in the bottom of a release member 36. Upward lifting movementof the tongs 30 moves the release members 36 to move latch bolts 37 outof registry with the sockets 26 and latch passageway 39, shown asextending for the length of the associated locating and locking member25. In certain forms of container lift trucks, the lift bars 32 may bedetachably mounted on the inner ends of the lift forks 31 in a suitablemanner,

It should here be understood that the opposite lift tongs 30 extendingalong opposite sides of the container from the side shown have tines orforks 31 extending inwardly therefrom, having a lift bar 32 extendingthereacross for releasing latch bolts 37 from locating and lockingmembers 25 and operating in the same manner as the lift bars previouslydescribed. It should further be understood that sockets 26 and latchbolts 37 are provided at opposite ends of the hollow beam 27 and arespaced equal distances from the center of the release member 36.

The release member 36 is of an elongated generally blocklike form guidedfor vertical movement along parallel spaced rods 40 depending from theunderside of the top wall of the beam 27 and suitably secured thereto.Said release member has ears 41 extending from opposite ends thereof andlimiting downward movement of said release member relative to the hollowbeam 27. The ears 41 also afford a means for the attachment of operatingmembers for the linkages, for releasing the latch bolts 37.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, each ear 41 has a rectangular open portion 42affording access means for a nut or other fastening device 43,connecting a latch bolt release linkage thereto. The latch bolt linkageis herein shown as being in the form of a flexible cable 44, but may beof various other forms. The flexible cables 44 extend in oppositedirections from the ears 41 under sheaves 45. The left-hand flexiblecable 44 extends from its sheave 45 through a guide member 46 projectingupwardly of the bottom wall of the beam 27 and through an upright leg 47of the latch bolt 37, and is secured to said leg as by a nut 48 or othersuitable fastening device. The latch bolt is guided along a guide 49extending upwardly of the bottom plate of the beam 27 for movement intoengagement with the latch passageway 39. A spring 50, shown as being acompression spring extends along the flexible cable 44 and is interposedbetween the legs 46 and 47 to bias the latch bolt into its lockingposition.

It is apparent from the foregoing that as long as the lift bar 32 is inengagement with the undersurface of the beam 27 and the abutment 33 isin engagement with the socket 35, the latch bolts 37 at opposite ends ofsaid beam will be held in released positions by the release member 36,shown in FIG. as being in its upper limit of travel. As the latch bolts37 are released from the locking and locating members 25, the containermay be lifted from the vehicle by the lift tongs 30 or may be placedonto another vehicle having locking and locating members 25 like thoseshown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and centered relative to the vehicle uponlowering movement of the lift tongs 30 and lift bars 32. The containermay then be locked in position as the lift bar 32 is lowered toaccommodate the springs 50 to engage the latches 37 within the latchopenings 39 extending along the locating and locking members 25 and tomove the release member 36 downwardly into the position shown in FIG. 4.

It should be understood that the hollow beams 27 may be of two-piececonstructions to afford access to the release members 36 and the cables44, springs 50 and latch bolts 37, or may have suitable openingstherein, to enable ready access to the latching and release partscarried within said beams. It should further be understood that therelease members 36 may operate mechanical linkages in place of theflexible linkages shown, and that various release means for the latchbolts other than the means herein shown may be used without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention.

It should further be understood that the locating and locking members 25and transverse beams 23 may be positioned in various locations along thecar to take care of various lengths of containers without altering thecar. As for example, the locating members 25 may be so located as totake care of two foot containers and one foot container or a footcontainer and a 10 foot container or one foot container or othercontainers of various lengths dependent upon the length of the car.

In FIGS. 6 to 10 of the drawings, I have shown a securement system forsecuring containers to the deck of a flat car or flatbed vehicle, whichis actuated by horizontal inward movement of lift forks of a tong typecontainer lifting apparatus to come into engagement with the bottom ofthe container. In this form of the invention, containers 5] have spacedbeams 52 extending across the bottoms thereof and shown in FIG. 9 asbeing box-like hollow beams fabricated by welding or in any othersuitable manner, to provide fork openings 53, for forks 55 of acontainer lifting apparatus similar to that shown in FIG. 3, but inwhich the forks move inwardly in rectilinear horizontal directions intothe fork openings to engage beneath and lift the container from itstransporting vehicle.

As shown in FIGS. 6 to 10, a base plate 56 is provided having anupwardly projecting locating and locking member 57 shown as being in theform of a dome extending upwardly of its center, but which may be ofvarious other suitable forms. The base plate 56 extends for the entirewidth of the car, and has relatively large diameter shafts or pins 59depending from its opposite ends, which may extend through aperturedportions or hollow tubes 60 spaced along the deck of the car on oppositesides thereof and extending beneath the deck of the car. The base plates56 and shafts or pins 59 may be located in the tubes 60, as required, tosupport containers of various preselected lengths. The dome 57 isengageable within a downwardly opening rectangular socket 61 in centeredrelation with respect to the longitudinal center line of the containerand depending therefrom. Beams 62 extend from opposite sides of thesocket into abutting engagement with the base plate 56 when thecontainer is in position on the deck of the flat car.

A latch bolt 63 is guided in spaced guide legs 65 depending from thebottom of the container to engage within apertured portions 66 inopposite walls of the socket 61 and to extend through a latch passageway67 extending through the dome 57, to lock the container in position inmuch the same manner as in the form ofthe invention illustrated in FIGS.1 through 5.

The latch bolt 63 has an upwardly extending abutment member or lug 69 atits inner end from which extends a guide rod 70, guided in a dependingleg 71 of a bracket 72 secured to and depending from the bottom of thecontainer. A compression spring 73 extends along the rod and is seatedat one end on the lug 69 and at its opposite end on the depending leg 71of the bracket 72 and biases the latch bolt into locking engagement withthe socket 61 and dome 57. The rod 70 has a coupler 74 for a flexiblecable 75 at its inner end, forming a part of the release linkage for thelatch bolt 63. The flexible cable 75 is shown as being suitably securedto the coupler 74 and extends inwardly therefrom between two parallelspaced guide sheaves 76, on the lower ends of vertical shafts 77,depending from a bracket member 79, secured to the bottom of thecontainer and depending therefrom. From thence the cable extends throughslots extending along the central portion of the beam 52 and between apair ofguide sheaves 81 on the lower ends of shafts 82, depending from abracket member 83, secured to the bottom ofthe container. The flexiblecable 75 then extends through the vertical depending leg ofan angle iron85 secured to the bottom of the container, and is secured thereto as bya nut 86 or any other suitable securing means.

Each lift fork 55 has an abutment 88 welded or otherwise secured to itsundersurface and depending therefrom. The abutment 88 has asemi-cylindrical engaging face 89 having rims 90 extending along the topand bottom surfaces thereof. The engaging face 89 is adapted to engagethe flexible drive device 75 upon horizontal inward movement of the liftfork 55 along the fork opening. As the lift fork 55 is moved inwardlyalong the fork opening, formed by the beam 52, the face 89 of theabutment 88 will come into engagement with the flexible cable 75 andmove the cable to disengage the latch bolt 63 from the apertured portion67 of the dome 57, and retain the latch bolt in its released position aslong as the lift fork is in position to lift the container.

It is, of course, understood that a latch bolt 63 and socket 61 is ateach end of the container in alignment with the longitudinal center linethereof, and that a separate release mechanism for each latch bolt isprovided to be operated by each fork of the lifting device as movedinwardly along the fork openings.

Where it is desired to utilize a lifting device in which lift forksextend along opposite sides of the container, one lift fork only need belong enough to come into gripping engagement with the bottom of thecontainer while the opposite lift fork should be sufi'tciently long toextend past the center of the container and actuate the latch bolts 63to release the latch as the lift fork comes into gripping engagementwith the bottom of the container.

While I have only shown sockets and domes at the center of the containerin this form of the invention, it should be understood that the socketsmay be located at the comers of the container, if desired, and thatwhere the lift forks come inwardly along the fork openings 53 fromopposite sides of the container, the latches may be released by theindividual forks.

It should further be understood that the aligning and locking apparatusof the present invention is effective for loading a wide variety oflengths of containers on a flat car, and as long as the car is providedwith sockets or apertured portions for the pins 59, there is nolimitation in length or arrangement of containers on the car.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a container for freight and the like having a generally flatbottom and parallel side and end walls extending upwardly therefrom,

a flat deck vehicle for transporting the container and in combinationwith a lift fork having forks for lifting the container from and placingthe container on the vehicle deck,

a pair of parallel spaced hollow beams extending along the bottom of thecontainer for substantially the length thereof,

downwardly opening sockets at opposite ends of the container openingthrough the bottoms of said beams,

projecting locking and locating members projecting upwardly of thevehicle deck for registry with said sockets upon the placing of acontainer thereon,

latches guided along the bottom of the container for movementlongitudinally thereof into and out of said sockets,

said locking and locating members having openings therein adapted to beengaged by said latches to lock the container to the vehicle deck,

latch release members guided in said beams for vertical movementrelative thereto and normally depending from said beams,

flexible drive connections from said latch release members to saidlatches including cables extending along said beams and connected withsaid latches at the outer ends of said cables and with said releasemembers at the inner ends thereof, to effect release of said latchesupon upward movement of said release members along said hollow beams byupward movement of the lift fork, prior to lifting the container by thelift fork.

2. The container of claim 1,

wherein springs bias said latches out of registry with said sockets andthe openings leading through said projecting locating and lockingmembers.

3. The container of claim 2,

wherein the latch release members have downwardly opening socketstherein spaced beneath the bottoms of said beams when the latches are intheir latch positions,

wherein the lift forks have lift bars extending thereacross registeringwith said beams and latch release members, and

wherein said lift bars have upwardly projecting abutments thereonengageable with said downwardly open sockets of said release members toeffect movement of said release members into release positions uponupward movement of said lift bars toward the bottom of the container.

4. In a container for freight and the like having a generally flatbottom and parallel side and end walls extending upwardly therefrom,

a flat deck vehicle for transporting said containers and in combinationwith a lift fork having forks for lifting said container from andplacing said container on the vehicle deck,

a pair of parallel spaced hollow beams extending across the bottom ofthe container and having open ends forming access 0 enings for the forksof the lift fork, downward y opening sockets at opposite ends of thecontainer,

projecting locating and locking members projecting upwardly of thevehicle deck for registry with said sockets upon the placing of acontainer thereon, latches guided along the bottom of the container formovement longitudinally thereof into and out of said sockets,

said locating and locking members having openings therein adapted to beengaged by said latches to lock the container to the vehicle deck,

individual flexible cables connected with said latches and extendingtransversely through said beams,

means securing the opposite ends of said flexible cables from saidlatches to the bottom of the container, on the opposite sides of saidbeams from said latches,

abutment members formed as parts of the forks of the lift fork andextending downwardly therefrom for engagement with an associatedflexible cable, as moved inwardly along an associated hollow beam, forreleasing the latches as the forks of the lift fork move within the forkopening into position to effect lifting movement of the container.

5. The container of claim 4,

wherein spring means bias said latches in locking positions and maintaintension on said flexible cables upon release of said abutmentstherefrom.

1. In a container for freight and the like having a generally flatbottom and parallel side and end walls extending upwardly therefrom, aflat deck vehicle for transporting the container and in combination witha lift fork having forks for lifting the container from and placing thecontainer on the vehicle deck, a pair of parallel spaced hollow beamsextending along the bottom of the container for substantially the lengththereof, downwardly opening sockets at opposite ends of the containeropening through the bottoms of said beams, projecting locking andlocating members projecting upwardly of the vehicle deck for registrywith said sockets upon the placing of a container thereon, latchesguided along the bottom of the container for movement longitudinallythereof into and out of said sockets, said locking and locating membershaving openings therein adapted to be engaged by said latches to lockthe container to the vehicle deck, latch release members guided in saidbeams for vertical movement relative thereto and normally depending fromsaid beams, flexible drive connections from said latch release membersto said lAtches including cables extending along said beams andconnected with said latches at the outer ends of said cables and withsaid release members at the inner ends thereof, to effect release ofsaid latches upon upward movement of said release members along saidhollow beams by upward movement of the lift fork, prior to lifting thecontainer by the lift fork.
 2. The container of claim 1, wherein springsbias said latches out of registry with said sockets and the openingsleading through said projecting locating and locking members.
 3. Thecontainer of claim 2, wherein the latch release members have downwardlyopening sockets therein spaced beneath the bottoms of said beams whenthe latches are in their latch positions, wherein the lift forks havelift bars extending thereacross registering with said beams and latchrelease members, and wherein said lift bars have upwardly projectingabutments thereon engageable with said downwardly open sockets of saidrelease members to effect movement of said release members into releasepositions upon upward movement of said lift bars toward the bottom ofthe container.
 4. In a container for freight and the like having agenerally flat bottom and parallel side and end walls extending upwardlytherefrom, a flat deck vehicle for transporting said containers and incombination with a lift fork having forks for lifting said containerfrom and placing said container on the vehicle deck, a pair of parallelspaced hollow beams extending across the bottom of the container andhaving open ends forming access openings for the forks of the lift fork,downwardly opening sockets at opposite ends of the container, projectinglocating and locking members projecting upwardly of the vehicle deck forregistry with said sockets upon the placing of a container thereon,latches guided along the bottom of the container for movementlongitudinally thereof into and out of said sockets, said locating andlocking members having openings therein adapted to be engaged by saidlatches to lock the container to the vehicle deck, individual flexiblecables connected with said latches and extending transversely throughsaid beams, means securing the opposite ends of said flexible cablesfrom said latches to the bottom of the container, on the opposite sidesof said beams from said latches, abutment members formed as parts of theforks of the lift fork and extending downwardly therefrom for engagementwith an associated flexible cable, as moved inwardly along an associatedhollow beam, for releasing the latches as the forks of the lift forkmove within the fork opening into position to effect lifting movement ofthe container.
 5. The container of claim 4, wherein spring means biassaid latches in locking positions and maintain tension on said flexiblecables upon release of said abutments therefrom.